


Fishy Activities

by tresa_cho



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Community: hc_bingo, Drowning, Gen, Hazing, M/M, Swimming Pool, mermaid - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-24
Updated: 2011-09-24
Packaged: 2017-10-24 00:19:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/256728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tresa_cho/pseuds/tresa_cho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard McCoy is just trying to do his homework. He's a doctor, dammit, not a life guard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fishy Activities

**Author's Note:**

> Fills 'hazing' on my h/c bingo. Not very h or c. :/

Leonard hefted his bag further on his shoulder as he pushed his way into the humid pool hall. Explosive laughter startled him almost out his skin, and he set eyes on a group of Command track cadets gathered near the deep end. Leonard groaned. Just what he didn't need.

They didn't seem to notice him, caught up in whatever they were doing. He made his way to the shallow end of the pool and set his pack down. He crouched, and sifted through the bag for the petri dishes he had brought from the lab. The laughter piqued, and Leonard cast an annoyed glance towards them.

A young man with dirty blonde hair stood at the edge of the pool- wobbled more like. His legs were pinned together by a sleek, tight green monofin. A mermaid's tail, complete with glitter and a sparkling tailfin.

The man grinned, holding his arms out to display himself to his buddies. Leonard scowled. Some sort of hazing event. Just what he wanted to be witness to while he worked on his biology lab paper. Great.

The man standing beside Mr Merman unceremoniously shoved him into the pool. He fell with a splash, and the group roared their approval. The cheers simmered as they waited, watching the surface. A chill slipped down Leonard's spine as silence stretched across the pool deck.

Leonard stood.

“Hey, can he swim?” one of the Dolts asked hesitantly.

Leonard took off, sending his flip flops skittering across chlorinated tile. He took a running dive and hit the water smoothly. All sounds froze.

The man floated listlessly at the bottom of the pool, a good six feet from life-giving air. Leonard dragged himself through the water, curling around the man's body. He hooked an arm around his ribs and kicked up from the bottom. Two more splashes and his burden lightened considerably.

He broke the surface with a harsh gasp, two of the Dolts at either side, gripping the man between them. Leonard slapped at the water, and grasping hands reached for him, hauling him bodily from the water.

“He's not breathing!”

Leonard crawled onto his knees over the drowned man. “Get back. I'm a doctor. Someone call emergency services!”

The crowd instantly shifted, giving him space. He touched his fingers to the man's pulse point. He felt the barest hint of a flutter, and reached for the man's chin to tip his head back. He sealed his lips over the man's, forcing air into still lungs. Water splashed off him onto the pale face of the kid under his hands. He closed his eyes and leaned over the man again, exhaling forcefully into his mouth.

The kid jerked, and Leonard snapped back. He pushed the kid onto his side as water spewed from his mouth amidst gasping chokes. “Get it up, come on, kid,” Leonard said, his hand tight around the kid's arm to hold him steady. He went limp in Leonard's grasp, breathing shallow and wet, but breathing.

Leonard turned to the group of Idiots gathered around him. The paramedics tore through the double doors to the pool deck, a gurney between them. “You are all going to be written up for this,” Leonard swore as he helped the medics get the kid strapped in. “If you're smart, you'll turn yourselves in. You don't want me coming to find you.”

He didn't wait for their response. He left with the medical team, keeping two fingers pressed to the kid's stuttering pulse point.

The doctors on duty quickly took the unfortunate merman off his hands, and one of the nurses took pity on him, handing him a dry set of scrubs and a spare pair of soft shoes. He hadn't even realised he was still barefoot. He ducked behind a privacy curtain and changed, peeling out of his wet clothes with effort. When he was finally dry, he made his way to his patient's bedside.

“He's going to be all right. I want to keep him here overnight to watch for secondary drowning.” Doctor Mayer stood over the kid's bed with a padd in hand. “What happened?”

“Hazing,” Leonard said in disgust. “Threw him in the pool dressed like a mermaid. Which would have been hilarious, I'm sure, if the kid could swim.”

“I hope you got names.”

“I got faces. I'm a doctor, dammit, not a lifeguard. They interrupted my homework.”

Mayer laughed. “Only you, McCoy. Only you.” He handed Leonard the padd. “I'll be around.”

Leonard growled and dropped into a chair by the bedside, thumbing through the patient files. James Kirk. That name sounded familiar...

“Bones.”

Leonard looked up from the padd. “Excuse me?” The kid was awake.

“Bones. From the shuttle. 'I may throw up on you',” the kid said, in a fair imitation of Leonard's drawl. The kid's eyes clicked in his memory.

“Hungover Kid,” he recalled. “And I did throw up on you.”

“You owe me a new pair of jeans.”

“The blood wasn't going to come out of them anyway, kid,” Leonard said. Kid struggled into a sitting position, and Leonard leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. “Do you only sprout a tail when you drown?”

Kid flushed down to his chest though his smirk never wavered. “It was a sexy tail, and you know it.”

“Yeah. There's nothing more erotic than rescue breathing for an unconscious merman. That's what I get off to,” Leonard said without changing tone. “Oxygen deprived lips have such a unique taste.”

Kid's smile finally dropped. “You-”

“Yes. I leapt into the pool and saved your sorry ass. You're welcome.”

Kid shifted uneasily, hands twisting in the sheets. “Thanks.”

Leonard stood and dropped the padd onto the seat of his vacant chair. He slid to the bed and pushed Kid back against the pillows while reaching for the penlight at the bedside. He peeled Kid's eyelids back, checking response times. “You can thank me by getting swimming lessons and not harassing the nurses.”

“Why would I harass the nurses?” Kid asked innocently. Leonard ignored him and gripped his chin, turning his head up.

“Open.”

Kid dropped his jaw obediently and Leonard shone the light into his throat. Didn't appear to be any surface damage. He released Kid's chin and straightened. “How's it look?” Kid asked.

“I think you'll live,” Leonard said. “Get some rest. You're stuck here till morning. We have to watch you for secondary drowning.” Kid frowned. “Don't give me that. You're going to get written up just like those yahoos who shoved you in. Don't think I'm going to cut you slack just because you go all puppy-eye on me.”

Kid rolled onto his side without another word, closing his eyes. Leonard did one last check on the biobed readings before pulling the privacy curtains shut around the bed.

He sat down at a table near the overnight non-critical beds, and tried to get a start on his advanced experimental biology paper. His samples were probably in the trash by now- cleaned up by the janitors in the pool house- but he could at least get his thesis worked out.

Some time later, he heard a sharp gasp from Kid's curtains. Leonard sat up straight in his chair, ears straining. Another choked moan escaped, and Leonard was up before he knew it. He pushed through Kid's curtains and moved to the bedside. Kid rolled fitfully, tangled in the sheets, mouth wide open, straining for air. “Hey, kid,” Leonard said. “Hey. Wake up.”

Kid moaned, a harsh, wretched thing, and Leonard grabbed his arms. “Jim. Wake up.” Leonard gave him a small shake. “Jim!”

Kid lurched, flailing. He struck out at Leonard, but Leonard deflected it easily and leaned heavily against him, holding him in place against the mattress. “Jim, wake up,” he ordered sharply. Jim woke with a harsh pant, face shoved against the bedsheets. His eyes rolled wildly, trying to figure out where he was. When he placed the biobed, the tension sank out of him with a weak sob. “Hey, it's all right. It was just a dream.”

“I couldn't breathe.” He gasped hoarsely. “I couldn't breathe and my lungs were on fire like they were gonna burst- full of water-”

“Hush, Jim,” Leonard said gently. “You're having a normal reaction to post-traumatic stress. Take some breaths. Calm down for me.” Jim shuddered in his hold as he took a deep breath.

“Do you routinely pin your patients with basic hand to hand grappling techniques?” Jim asked.

“Asshole,” Leonard said without any real heat. He sat up and Jim rolled onto his back, staring up at Leonard. Leonard ignored Jim's fingers twisted in the hem of his scrubs. Leonard placed his hand on Jim's arm, pressing reassuringly. “All right? Can you go back to sleep?” Jim closed his eyes, and after a moment, shook his head negative.

“Can you just let me out? I'll get out of your... hair,” Jim said. Leonard shook his head.

“Secondary drowning. We have to check you for any infections that may have started growing, too. You're not going anywhere.”

Jim shifted, a hot slide of thinly clothed thighs along Leonard's. Leonard tightened his grip on Jim's arm. Jim smirked.

It was then Leonard realised this kid was trouble.


End file.
